Gilbert Curle or Curll (died 1609) was a Scottish secretary who served Mary, Queen of Scots during her captivity in England. He married Barbara Mowbray, one of three sisters serving Mary.Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade (Yale, 2024), pp. 89, 103.
England
Little is known of Curle's family background, but he seems to have been from an Edinburgh family.Mark Dilworth, 'The Curle-Mowbray family and the Scots College in Douai', Innes Review, 56:1 (Spring 2005), p. 12. His sister Jonet Curle was married to Timothy Cagnioli an Italian banker in Edinburgh,Rosalind K. Marshall, Queen Mary's Women: Female Relatives, Servants, Friends and Enemies (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006), p. 187. and their father James Curle was a textile merchant in Edinburgh who supplied the household of Regent Arran.Melanie Schuessler Bond, Dressing the Scottish Court 1543-1553: Clothing in the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland (Boydell, 2019), pp. 184, 304, 406.
According to the confession of Nicolas Hubert alias French Paris, Mary wanted Curle in her service to replace Alexander Durham in 1567 shortly before the murder of Lord Darnley. Mary distrusted Durham.Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 667 no. 1117. Curle was listed as a valet of the chamber in Mary's household in 1567.Andrew Lang,'Household of Mary Queen of Scots', Scottish Historical Review, 2 (Glasgow, 1905), p. 353
Gilbert Curle was with Mary, Queen of Scots in England in September 1568, acting as her secretary for the Scots language and six months later was made a valet of her chamber.Mark Dilworth, 'The Curle-Mowbray family and the Scots College in Douai', Innes Review, 56:1 (Spring 2005), p. 10.Jade Scott, 'Editing the Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots: The Challenges of Authorship', Woman's Writing, 30:4 (2023), p. 354. Some letters for Mary were given to his brother James Curle in Edinburgh.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 672 no. 781. He brought letters in 1577, as noted by John Constable and Gilbert Talbot, who wrote that Curle's brother and another Scot came selling linen to the household.Joseph Hunter, Hallamshire (London, 1819), p. 88. By the 1580s Mary's correspondents often added postscripts to their letters addressed to Curle.Mark Dilworth, 'The Curle-Mowbray family and the Scots College in Douai', Innes Review, 56:1 (Spring 2005), p. 11.
In December 1581 Mary asked for six horses for riders to attend her. She was allowed four horses for her men to accompany her coach, and they were not allowed to carry pistols, called "daggs". The appointed riders were Andrew Melville, Claude Nau, Gilbert Curle, and Bastian Pagez.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 2 (London, 1888), p. 444.
One of his sisters, Elizabeth Curle, joined him in the queen's household.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 412 no. 439.Debra Barret-Graves, 'Elizabeth Curle', Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, eds, Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (Routledge, 2017), pp. 493-4.
Marriage at Tutbury Castle
Curle married Barbara Mowbray, one of Mary's gentlewomen.John Hosack, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers, 2 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1874), p. 326. She was a daughter of John Mowbray, Laird of Barnbougle in West Lothian, near Cramond Island, and Elizabeth Kirkcaldy, a sister of William Kirkcaldy of Grange. Grange had been a commander in the Marian Civil War and was executed in July 1573.Mark Dilworth, 'The Curle-Mowbray family and the Scots College in Douai', Innes Review, 56:1 (Spring 2005), pp. 11-12.
John Mowbray was in touch with Francis Walsingham in December 1580, after one his sons, Francis, met him in London. The French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau, was informed that Francis Mowbray wished to serve Elizabeth I.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1574-1581, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 546 no. 632, 562 no. 637.
Coded letters to the French ambassador Castelnau mentioning the arrival of Barbara Mowbray or one of her sisters in Mary's household were discovered in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and deciphered in 2023. Curle, Nau, and Jérôme Pasquier ciphered letters for Mary.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, 'Deciphering Mary Stuart’s lost letters from 1578-1584', Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), pp. 74, 91 fn.350, 174.
As well as using substitution ciphers, Curle also wrote letters disguising the content as an ordinary merchant's letter. In 1584, a letter from William Wilbeck to his cousin Thomas was really a secret message to Thomas Baldwin. In the letter, Elizabeth I was called the merchant's wife and so on. The letter was intercepted and a key or nomenclator was made.Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade (Yale, 2024), p. 115.
Betrothal The marriage was discussed in October 1584 at Wingfield, and Ralph Sadler notified Francis Walsingham that the couple had written to the Laird of Barnbougle for permission to marry, and Mary had asked him to speed the letter.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 358 nos. 331-2.Mark Dilworth, (2005), p. 11.
Meanwhile, Curle was taken from Wingfield to view Tutbury Castle and examine the accommodation in advance of Mary moving there. He reported the lodgings were in a poor state. Sadler wrote to Walsingham that Curle's report was misleading, and he had lied "like a false Scot". Sadler and his assistant John Somers admitted that Curle had justly noted that the glazing was in disrepair in the great tower, but they suspected Mary's household were reluctant to move for "secret causes".William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 497-8 nos. 463-4.
A great deal of furnishings were needed for Tutbury. John Somers was "every day assaulted" by Nau and Curle with daily requests for horses for Mary. He said the weather was too cold for riding and she could always borrow horses. Somer thought that Mary intended to send Curle as a messenger to Scotland, and he provided a sketch of the secretary's character for William Cecil. Curle was not so quick-witted or prompt as Nau, French-like, but with a shrewd melancholy wit, and not so pleasant in speech and utterance, and suspect enough. Mary liked him for his fidelity and secrecy.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 582-3 no. 561. If Curll went to Scotland, he would "go lightlier in post" and not make such an expensive show of his status as Nau would. Sadler State Papers, 3, pp. 281, 288
Merchant's letter Curle corresponded with Thomas Baldwin, a servant of the Earl of Shrewsbury. In order to disguise the meaning of his letters, Curle wrote about a "merchant of London" to mean Elizabeth I, Mary was a "merchant of Newcastle", and Francis Walsingham was the "merchant's wife".James Daybell, "Secret Letters in Elizabethan England", James Daybell & Peter Hinds, Material Readings of Early Modern Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), p. 53. Mary's keeper Ralph Sadler was "the carrier" and his assistant John Somers "the carrier's man", and the Earl of Shrewsbury was "the peddler". Curle could then write letters that might pass as unsuspicious mercantile correspondence.Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), p. 115. Sadler inspected an intercepted letter in October 1584 and thought the identifications were not entirely correct. his colleague Somers seemed to be implicated in Curle's schemes, and Curle claimed the "carrier" and "carrier's man" disliked Bess of Hardwick. Sadler reported to Walsingham that he and Somers were angry with Curle for letting them down or betraying them, and Somers had not been turned or compromised.Arthur Clifford, Sadler State Papers, 2, pp. 402–403, 422–423.William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 368 no. 342, 373 no. 347. Somers wrote to Walsingham, as a conceit taking on the persona of the "carrier's man".William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 374 no. 348. Baldwin was sent to the Tower of London.Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration (Yale, 2024), p. 115.
October wedding Curle and Mowbray's wedding was held at Tutbury Castle on 23 or 24 October 1585.John Morris, The Letter-Books of Amias Poulet (London, 1874), pp. 110–111. Mary had previously promised the couple a gift of 2000 French crowns, and they transferred the sum to Mary's French secretary and treasurer, Claude Nau. This transaction was witnessed by Andrew Melville, the Master of the Household, and Sebastian Megalli, the queen's almoner.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 135 no. 178. Mary later made a will at Sheffield Manor in 1577, mentioning the sum of 4,000 Francs promised to the couple.A. Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 4 (London, 1852), p. 357.
Amias Paulet, Mary's keeper at Tutbury, knew the couple were betrothed, but wrote to Walsingham after the wedding, saying that Mary had not told him of the ceremony in advance.John Morris, Letter-books of Amias Poulet (London, 1874), pp. 107, 111
Gillis Mowbray comes to Tutbury Barbara's sister Geillis or Gillis Mowbray came to England from Barnbougle too late for her sister's wedding.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), pp. 115 no. 147, 125 no. 163.John Morris, Letter-books of Amias Poulet (London, 1874), pp. 100-101, 107 Mary wrote to Francis Walsingham for her passport from London on 30 September 1585.Labanoff, Lettres, 7, pp. 335-6. Geillis was sent from London to Derby, and arrived at Tutbury on 9 November. Her position at first was maid to Curle's sister Elizabeth.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), pp. 130 no. 172, 153 no. 200, 155 no. 203, 412 no. 440. Geillis was an ancestor of the Clerk of Penicuik family, and it is thought that Mary gave her jewels, known today as the "Penicuik jewels" and displayed at the National Museum of Scotland.Rosalind Marshall & George Dalgleish, The Art of Jewellery in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1991), p. 14.
In February 1586, Mary had discussions with a French visitor, Monsieur Arnault, at Chartley in the presence of Amias Powlet. She said that Geillis Mowbray had told her that James VI had sent a rich jewel to a Danish princess, a token of marriage negotiations. Geillis had heard the story when the Danish ambassadors were in Scotland before she left for London. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 235 no. 287.
Arrested Barbara Curle was pregnant in May 1586.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 412 no. 439. They had eight children in total.Jos E. Vercruysse, 'A Scottish Jesuit from Antwerp: Hippolytus Curle', Innes Review, 61:2 (November 2010). Curle was arrested before their daughter was born in August 1586.Régis de Chantelauze, Le Journal Inédit De Bourgoing Son Mèdecin La Correspondance D'Amyas Paulet (Paris: Plon, 1876), pp. 476, 478 Mary wanted her christened with her name, but there was no priest, so, after her return from Tixall,David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), pp. 224–225. she made a form of baptism herself.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1585-1586, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 632 no. 726.Mark Dilworth, (2005), p. 13.
Arrest and exile